Travelling to Pakistan with expired Pakistani passport?

Question

I'm permanent resident of Canada and my Pakistani passport is expired. I've to travel to Pakistan within a week and I will be travelling on PIA from Toronto to Lahore. So is it ok for me to travel to Pakistan with expired Pakistani passport but with valid NICOP and PR card of Canada.

Answer 1

Timatic, the database which airlines use to verify passenger travel documents, states:

Passport required.

• Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be valid on arrival.

Passport Exemptions:

• Nationals of Pakistan with an emergency passport and a letter of approval issued by the Ministry of Interior in Pakistan.

This means that the airline will deny boarding if you present the expired passport and do not have the emergency passport and approval letter described here.

You should contact the nearest Pakistan consulate immediately to either renew your passport, if you have enough time, or to obtain the necessary emergency documents.

You should also be aware that Canada will require you to have a valid passport in addition to your PR card in order to return to Canada. So you need to renew your passport anyway. If you do not do that before you leave, you will need to do it before you return.

Answer 2

Note that getting to Pakistan and getting into Pakistan are two different things.

As a citizen, you generally have the right to enter the country. (This is true for many countries.) Without a valid passport, it may be a little bit harder and more time-consuming to convince the border official that you are in fact a citizen, though.

However, getting to Pakistan will be a problem. Without a valid passport, no airline will allow you to board the flight. If you are denied entry, they need to fly you back at their own cost and pay a fine, so even though you actually do have the right to enter Pakistan as a Pakistani citizen, there is no way for the airline to actually verify this fact without a valid passport, and so they will play it safe and deny you boarding.

In fact, they actually use an automated system for those checks, and you will never have the chance to actually argue your case to a human being. (Or more precisely, no human being you could argue your case to is actually in the position to override the automated system.)

So, in short, while you could technically enter Pakistan, you can't get there, so you will have to renew your passport.

Answer 3

Any Foreign Pakistan dual Citizen can easily visit to home country with NICOP without having Pakistani Passport.

Just show your Canadian Passport to the Airline ticket counter. The Pakistani Immigration will stamp your Canadian Passport after verifying your NICOP.

I'll suggest you to verify this detail by calling nearest consulate as well.

link: https://pakconsulatela.org/national-identity-card-for-overseas-pakistanis